The Morning: Why Harris picked Walz

Plus, Cori Bush, Bangladesh and "cortisol face."

View in browser|nytimes.com August 7, 2024 Good morning. We're covering Kamala Harris's running mate — as well as Cori Bush, Bangladesh and "cortisol face." In Philadelphia. Erin Schaff/The New York Times Why Tim Walz? By Reid J. Epstein I'm a national politics reporter and a native Midwesterner. Tim Walz is going to bring big Midwestern dad energy to the presidential campaign. Minnesota's governor won't deliver a key state or bring key policy experience that Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, lacks. She picked him to run as her vice president for one reason above all others: His biography and his demeanor make him a familiar figure for voters who might not be attracted to a Black and South Asian woman from California. The Walz vibes are very different from those of recent top-of-the-ticket Democrats. The party is used to national candidates who've spent decades, if not their entire lives, preparing for the big stage. Walz was teaching social studies and geography, not climbing the ladder, 20 years ago. In the last two weeks, as Harris shortlisted him to be her running mate, Walz referred to himself privately as "the dog that caught the car," seemingly shocked by his own luck. Walz is a former small-town high school football coach who spends his free time hunting and fishing. He wears a camouflage hat while campaigning and speaks with the nasal accent native to the Upper Midwest. I grew up in Central Illinois and spent years living and working in Wisconsin. Hearing Walz speak reminds me of what it sounds like to hear another English speaker while traveling abroad — a familiar, comforting sound. "He brings with him a vast understanding of the Midwest," Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota told me yesterday. "This will be a vice president who has stood in deer stands in the middle of 10-degree weather and has fished across Minnesota's 10,000 lakes." A political arc Walz has had a bit of a journey on the ideological spectrum. He was first elected to Congress as a moderate who represented a rural district. While he was a reliable vote for the House Democrats' agenda, Walz received A ratings from the National Rifle Association and didn't present himself as a cultural progressive. In 2016, he won re-election in his rural district by less than one point — at the same time that Donald Trump won there by almost 15 points. When he ran for governor in 2018, Walz embraced gun control measures and disavowed his past N.R.A. support. In his first term, he presided over a divided State Legislature and had a productive working relationship with Republicans. Walz in 2007, speaking at the high school where he once taught. T.C. Worley for The New York Times Then came 2023. Democrats had won full control of Minnesota's statehouse for the first time in a decade. Walz pushed through a raft of progressive laws. His state codified abortion rights, enacted new gun control laws, provided free lunch to public-school students and implemented a child tax credit. That cemented his reputation as a progressive populist, a winning label in a party that has spent years anointing centrist candidates for president and vice president. Walz is particularly in sync with Harris when it comes to abortion, where he has a compelling personal story to tell. His two children were conceived through in vitro fertilization, the fertility treatment a few conservatives — including a majority of the Alabama Supreme Court — have hoped to ban. During the raucous rally last night where Harris introduced Walz as her running mate, he paused for an emotional moment. He talked about how he and his wife suffered through years of infertility treatments before their first child was born. "It wasn't by chance," he said, "that when we welcomed our daughter into the world, we named her Hope." The Walz vibe Politicians by their nature can be strivers, willing to elbow rivals to get ahead. They are not always popular with their own peers. But Walz seems to be well liked by nearly everyone who interacts with him. As the vice-presidential search played out over the last two weeks, I received unsolicited feedback from multiple House Democrats who served with Walz. They wanted to vouch for him. Even Paul Gazelka, a Republican who battled him as the Minnesota Senate's majority leader during Walz's first term as governor, said in an interview on Sunday that Walz was an honest broker who worked well in what was then a divided government. Gazelka described himself as social friends with Walz despite having run against him for governor in 2022. Last summer, I spent some time with Walz at the Iowa State Fair, where he came to watch the Republicans who at the time were vying to win their party's presidential nomination. He said nice things about his neighbor governor, Doug Burgum of North Dakota, hammed it up with the few local Democrats on the fair's midway and ate a pork chop. It was the sort of stuff that gave birth to the backslapper cliché about politicians. The Walz personal touch helped get him the job. People close to the vice-presidential selection process said the connection Harris felt with Walz mattered more than the prospect he would energize the party's progressive base. The task for Walz now is to translate the good vibes and folksy demeanor that made him popular in Minnesota and in Congress to an electorate that is unhappy with the direction of the country. Harris has proved she can generate enthusiasm with young voters and people of color who congregate in cities. It will fall to Walz to excite Democrats in small towns and rural areas that can help turn purple states blue. More on Walz Walz grew up on a Nebraska farm, served in the Army National Guard and prefers Diet Mountain Dew to coffee. Read more about his background and about his record. Harris picked Walz after the two forged an instant connection. Read the inside story of the selection process. Harris called Walz "coach" during their first joint rally. Walz peppered his remarks with phrases like "holy hell" and "damn sure." Walz showed his ability to attack Trump and JD Vance, again calling them "weird." ("The Daily" explained Walz's sudden stardom after using that catchphrase.) Trump's campaign criticized Walz as "dangerously liberal," accusing him of mishandling violent protests in 2020. Vance said Harris "bent the knee" to progressives. In Walz, Harris sees a battleground strategy dressed in Carhartt, Lisa Lerer writes. Commentary Times Opinion writers discussed Walz's strengths ("Joe Biden, 20 years ago") and weaknesses ("his celebrity is primarily regional"). As a former football coach, Walz speaks America's common language, Howard Wolfson argues. "Tim's ability to listen, collaborate and find pragmatic solutions earned him respect from not just Democrats but also Republicans like me," Charles Djou, who served with Walz in the House, writes for Fox News. New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait called the pick "a missed opportunity to claim the middle" and "turn a coin-flip election into a safe one." Harris's choice relieved some Republicans, who saw Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania's moderate governor, "as the stronger opponent," The Cook Political Report's Amy Walter and Jessica Taylor write. "Much of Walz's actual record — such as signing a law that allows undocumented immigrants to receive a driver's license, and his response to the George Floyd protests — will be easily pilloried," Matt Lewis argues in The Hill. THE LATEST NEWS More on Politics U.S. Rep. 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